Osborne was described by neighbours as ‘aggressive’ and ‘strange’.
Photograph: Facebook

The suspect in the Finsbury Park mosque attack has been named as Darren Osborne, a 47-year old married father of four living in a Cardiff suburb who recently voiced a hatred of Muslims.

According to witnesses, Osborne shouted, “I want to kill all Muslims” as he drove a van into a crowd of worshippers in north London in the small hours of Monday morning. One person died and 11 were injured; Osborne survived the attack and was arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

Camera phone footage showed him being captured by worshippers, who attacked him as he screamed, “Kill me.” When he was eventually arrested and loaded into the back of a police van in handcuffs, he waved to the gathered crowd.

On Monday, neighbours in Pentwyn said that over the weekend, Osborne had called a 12-year-old Muslim neighbour an “inbred” and had been thrown out of a local pub for getting drunk, “cursing Muslims and saying he would do some damage”.

Neighbours in the Cardiff suburb where he had lived for several years described him as “aggressive” and “strange”. They said it was unclear what he did for work. Some said he was jobless, but bought and sold cars.

Osborne was brought up in Weston-super-Mare, where members of his family still live. People who said they knew him in Weston when he lived there described him as “a fighter” who would “flip” when he drank too much.

Police on Monday were searching his home, a modern redbrick terrace, close to Cardiff golf club in the north-east of the city suburbs. It has a Dogs Trust charity sticker in the front window and a wheelbarrow and child’s toy in the front garden.

There was no immediate evidence that Osborne was an active member of a far right organisation. He was not known to the security services, according to Ben Wallace, the security minister. “What I can say on this case is, this individual, so far as we know at the moment, was not known to us, but we are aware of a rise in the far right,” said Wallace.

“This was quite clearly an attack on Muslims who looked like they were probably Muslims and they were coming from a prayer meeting,” said the Met police commissioner, Cressida Dick. “We treat this as a terrorist attack and we in the Met are as shocked as anybody in this local community or across the country at what has happened.”

Osborne’s Muslim neighbour in Cardiff, Khadijh Sherazi, said she had never had any problems with him or his family until this weekend. Her son, Nadeem, 12, said: “I was on my bike and he just came up to me and said, ‘Inbred.’ Just out there [on the road]. It was just a normal voice.”

His sister, Nadia, 10, said she and her grandmother also heard Osborne in his garden using the same word. “All of a sudden we heard him say, ‘Inbred.’ I said to my nan: ‘Did you hear that?’ She said it was probably to his dogs.”

Osborne also appears to have a Twitter account, which he has never used to send his own tweets, instead monitoring 32 other users, including Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, the leaders of the far right party Britain First. Its mission statement states: “We will restore Christianity as the bedrock and foundation of our national life as it has been for the last one thousand years.”

Osborne was born in Singapore and his mother, sister and nephew live in Weston-super-Mare. His mother, Christine Osborne, 72, told the Guardian: “I’m sorry, I’m not talking to reporters. He is my son, if that’s what you want to know. You should talk to his partner, Sarah, the mother of his four children.”

Later, in a telephone interview with ITV News, she described him as a “complex” person, but said: “That’s all I can say. It’s a terrible, terrible shock.”

Sarah Andrews, 42, works as a pub chef. The couple are believed to have separated in recent months. Neighbours said he would often shout at her and his children in the street. “He always seemed an aggressive and strange person,” said pharmacist Rebecca Carpenter. “He never caused us any real problems, but we could often hear him shouting from the other side of the street.”

Regulars at the Hollybush pub close to his home told how he became very drunk on Saturday night. One said: “He got chucked out as he was so drunk. He was cursing Muslims and saying he would do some damage.”

Pauline Tibbs, 48, said: “The police have been back and forward here all day. It’s a terrible shock. I’ve seen him walking in the street but never spoken to him. He seemed normal enough.”

The Met police said in a statement: “At this stage in the investigation, it is believed that the suspect acted alone, but we are of course investigating all the circumstances leading up to the attack.”

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Several far right groups are active in south Wales. They include the South Wales National Front. Its leader, Adam Lloyd, denied any connection to the attacker. “The man in question is not known to any of us here in South Wales National Front, and to our knowledge is not and never has been a member,” he said. “Although we will never condone or accept this kind of violent attacks here in SWNF, anyone with a right mind can see this is not a terrorist attack but a revenge attack.”

Osborne hired the vehicle used in the attack from Pontyclun Van Hire, a company based on an industrial estate close to the M4, 12 miles west of Cardiff. It said in a statement: “We at Pontyclun Van Hire are shocked and saddened by the incident that took place at Finsbury Park last night. We are cooperating fully with the Metropolitan police investigation and our thoughts are with those who have been injured in this cowardly attack.” It said it was assisting the police “in any way we can”.

The hire company opens seven days a week, which means the van used in the attack could have been picked up just hours earlier.

Edward Gardiner, who lives in a street near Osborne, said he saw a man sleeping in a van matching the description of the one used in the Finsbury Park attack late on Saturday night. He claimed he went to speak to the man and smelled alcohol on his breath.

Gardiner said he had reported it to the police. He said: “I saw a van with this man lying across the three seats. I went to give him a shake. He just grunted, but his breath smelled of alcohol. I reported it to the police. I don’t know what happened. Then I saw the van and the man’s picture today.”

A spokesman for South Wales police said all inquiries were being dealt with by the Met police. The Met refused to comment.